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I felt you guys were very over critical of this mini comic and that a most of your criticisms could be equally applied to the vintage mini-comics. You even point out yourselves the limitations of the format so you can't judge it to the standards of a regular comic. Personally I'm very pleased with it and only have a few minor nit picks. I think the Teela's Sorceress oufit looks terrible, she looks more like a Jedi, they should have used the NA or 200x Sorceress outfit for her. I agree He-Man's comment to her about her hair is cringe worthy, not to mention he can't really even see her hair under the hooded cloak, but I don't really have problem with the rest of the scene. Like Irian and others point out the relationship between Adam/HM and Teela has now changed a lot, they're not going conversing and joking around like they're still training in the palace grounds. Teela's life has been through some huge changes lately, she's had this huge responsibility thrown upon her, she literally has the weight of the universes on her shoulders, she's in her late teens/early twenties and basically had to grow up.

I did the exact same thing that Dan did and was like how the hell did Skeletor get into Grayskull, someone in the mini-comic talkback tread had to actually point out to me that the last two panels on that page had moved to Central Tower.

I do agree that its a bit odd that a gun just sprouted out of the bionotops's head though

3: Val brought up the issue of He-Man not being as knowledgeable about Preternia in the vintage comic. And yes this is true. But in this new retelling, we wanted to take into account the fact that it is established Grayskull has one of the greatest libraries in the universe. It made sense they would have many records of Preternia and He-Man would study up before his mission.

I like this idea. It makes sense, being that the castle was a great fortress of knowledge and power... and if you're going on a mission, you'd be apt to read up on where you're heading, to avoid any surprises.

I do feel you guys were a little over critical of the mini comic, I can understand why with val being so big into comics, but still it seemed like it was an hour of bashing. But It was still an enjoyable listen. LOL

I think Tim nailed it when he said hardcore fans will never be happy, its so hard for something to live up to what we think it should be, especially something we have grown up with for 30 years.

I did think Val made a great point about how Transformers and Joes are always around and its why its easier for people to understand new cannons. But with MOTU we have pretty much the same basic story for 3 decades!

But I try to keep an open mind about the "new" cannon. But in the the end, Ill make it whatever I want it to be

Seeing as how Val was involved in one of the few MOTU media projects outside the cartoons (Save for New Adventures) that were actually done well I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. I agree with Scott (GASP) that Tim was pretty stand up in taking the blame for a few issues and it shows how much of a professional he really is and makes me wish everyone involved with the property would be willing to take responsibilities equally for personal failings.

I felt you guys were very over critical of this mini comic and that a most of your criticisms could be equally applied to the vintage mini-comics.

I haven't even listened to the episode and I can tell this is a very unfair crtique.
First, the vintage minicomics were aimed at kids, to estabilish the characters and thei powers abilites; second, they weren't trying to create a new coherent story for adult collectors.
All the opposite of these new ones.

Come on ! We all know that 3 parts mini-comic was only aimed at selling more variants... and possibly to "celebrate the 30th anniversary". It's sad to know the comic itself is not that great. But in the end, it will help me to feel better about not buying Snake MAA.

Interesting to see the comments this episode has prompted. I maintain that we were fair in our assessments which were based on the scenes presented in the comic itself. We certainly weren't out to "bash" the comic, but to offer our thoughts and reactions to it. Certainly, given the changes that have taken place, the reader can interpret the interaction between Teela and He-Man however they like. However, I still feel the dialogue in that scene is way off-base. Maybe if they had more space to work with, they would have been able to better explore the character dynamics.

Because we all know that using such antiquated methods as "full color, small size print media" and "prioritizing shoehorning product over storytelling" are the only options available these days.

If only a giant corporation had access to an electronic medium where high quality images could be displayed to millions of people for practically no cost at all. There would be no page limit, no size restrictions, and no need to force in a character or a ham-fisted reference that wasn't naturally necessitated by the story.

If only!!!

Maybe the world class team at Mattel could put their heads together to create some kind of "information network" that could be exploited for just these types of endeavors!

Well, my 2 cents about the limited space thing: you can chose what story to tell to fit the space you have (at least in this case).
It's the same problem of the bios: are the best way to convey such a large story? Definitely not, they would have been better just giving background info about the characters and their abilities (so, hum... "bios")
Same with the minis: the vintage ones didn't try to tell huge stories. Why trying to force one when you have even less pages to tell it?

Well, my 2 cents about the limited space thing: you can chose what story to tell to fit the space you have (at least in this case).
It's the same problem of the bios: are the best way to convey such a large story? Definitely not, they would have been better just giving background info about the characters and their abilities (so, hum... "bios")
Same with the minis: the vintage ones didn't try to tell huge stories. Why trying to force one when you have even less pages to tell it?

Yep! With three 8-page issues, I think it would have been best to streamline and focus on telling a straightforward adventure story with some nice character-focused dialogue - something simple, mysterious, and fun but with a touch of character depth too. The vintage minicomics that stick out in my mind as examples are the later ones that I almost see as a continuation of where Filmation left off, as well as the Gary Cohn/Mark Teixeira ones that had a mysterious fantasy adventure quality about them.

i've got to be honest - i was never that big on the mini-comics growing up ... it was always about the actual action-figures and play-sets for me ...

growing up; i would never have known that the mini-comics were designed to sell toys, but as an adult collector - it's totally obvious to me now ...

based on that - i'm not taking these new mini-comics tooseriously ... mattel don't have to ''sell'' me the toys because i'm buying anyway (we're adult collectors, right?!) and whatever storyline/plot-lines are in there - i can take or leave as i'm not as engaged in the 'story' aspect as much as i was when i was growing up ...

agreed! if this comic was infact made to sell more variants then that suits me fine! ... but, seriously - i think these comics will be cool ... at least they're trying to re-create the past a bit more without people getting too serious about it ... it's fun; at least it is to me anyway - but then i'm not a huge mini-comic fan ...

''He-Man lives and possesses that key, I must possess all or I possess nothing!'' (Skeletor, 1987)

I'm playing catch-up on these again! I was so excited to get this book at PowerCon, and I had both Scott and Tim sign it. Tim seemed like a really nice guy when I chatted with him, and he drew me an awesome Extendar sketch.

I'll admit, my excitement about getting new mini-comics overrode my more critical eye with these. But in anticipation of this podcast I re-read the first issue again and... I still enjoy it. As a story it's fairly slight because of the length but I actually thought there were some nice moments in there. To be honest, I was REALLY uncomfortable listening to this at the start. Even with the preface establishing Val and Tim's history, all I could do was imagine Tim sitting there as people laughed at his work! But as the podcast went on it seemed to become relaxed and it seemed like Tim was taking it in stride and I really enjoyed and appreciated the points raised.

I found the criticism of Teela's coldness interesting because I found it fascinating! When I was writing my Teela's Destiny mini-comic, that scene was fuel for it. What transpired to make Teela this way? Was the mantle of the Sorceress an honor? A curse? What does it mean for a warrior like Teela to take that mantle on? So rather than disliking that bit, I thought it opened up some interesting story possibilities. Also, it's an interesting way to keep He-man and Teela apart even after she learns of his dual nature.

Still, you guys brought up some interesting stuff I had never even thought about so all in all it was a fascinating listen.

Set up:I was already to listen to this when it first but when I read it was about the first mini comic I had to skip it since I didn't have a mini comic. I also skipped the following ones to avoid any spoilers and to stay in order and not get confused.

I now have a mini comic (my Thunder Punch He-Man arrived yesterday).

And in vein of the show I give my good and bad of the comic.

Good:Teela's "cold" attitude, why skeletor is going back in time, skeletor's face, glad the mini is being completed/done, bad A He-Ro

Bad:small font, the story started off like cliff note flashbacks to the bio's, the hair comment seemend forced, the dialogue seemed forced.

Missed:didn't dragon blaster bit the first time

Figured:when masters is mentioned I figured it had to be some kind of pre-eternian masters

Cover is ok.

I didn't think it flowed all that well but after going back and looking it over it flows a little bit better.

Now that I think about it some more the dialogue seems a bit less forced after a few look overs.